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I am leaning toward HR for him just because he'd be happiest there I think. But please let me know if you have any thoughts on where he should go. smile

Name:Randon/Randi
Age: 17
Gender: male
Sexual Orientation: Transexual - homosexual
Craft: none
Rank: n/a

Song:I Am What I am

History: Randon is youngest of three children. His father is Tantar a farmer who works the lord holder's fields. His mother Olfa who works alongside his father when not tending him and his siblings. His life was quite normal. He played with his siblings and worked in the fields with his father. On the whole he lacked for nothing really. He had clothing, food, a roof over his head and a family who loved him despite the teasing he got because of his delicate frame and rather effeminate behavior.

Randon was always a little bit different. He liked playing dress up with his sister far more than climbing trees and catching frogs with his brother as his father thought he should be doing. He really didn't like getting dirty and while it wouldn't keep him from helping out when it was needed, but he would generally wash up as soon as he could. Pretty things like ribbons and silks made him feel fancy and he would often hide some away where he could wear them in secret or he would hide them under other clothing so no one would notice. He had a feeling his father would not allow such behavior had he known about it.

Randon liked helping his mother in the kitchens whenever he had the chance which wasn't often if his father had his way. Despite this interference he actually grew to be fairly good at cooking and general house hold chores. His father really couldn't complain if he helped his mother out and if it kept him out of the fields then more the better.

Now Tantar wasn't a cruel man, just old and hidebound. Men should act like men and women like woman and that was that. His sons behavior disturbed him far more than he could say and while he loved Randon a great deal he wanted nothing more than to rid his son of his ridiculous ideas.

As Randon grew though he felt more and more confined by his family's assertions that he act in a way he was not comfortable with and he began to be more open in his defiance. The final straw came when Randon was found in his sister's room trying on some of her dresses. That night his father made plans to send him to the mines. If anyone could make a man of him the minecrafters could.

It hurt to think that his father couldn't abide him the way he was. It nagged at Randon that so many people seemed to see what was so natural to him as wrong or strange. Was it really so bad to be different from what everyone said you should be? He didn't think so. After all there hadn't been any dragon riders until the first ones took to the sky. They probably didn't have that good a time of it either. Honestly he really didn't care what he was doing as long as he could live in a way he was comfortable with.

Before the arrangements could be made to take Randon to the mine craft hall he was searched to stand for the next hatching.

His father was pleased thinking the weyr would sort him out. But as soon as he was among the candidates Randon found a freedom he had never experienced in his life before. It was hard continuous work. But he could dress as he liked and if he chose to attempt needlework or some other feminine pursuit during his off time no one mentioned it. Being very friendly he got to know the drudges quite quickly and soon with their help was able to build a nice if small wardrobe of simple clothing.

It was all old hand me downs and much of it needing patching. But he had his own set of skirts and blouses and he couldn't have imagined being happier. He never actually lied about his sex, but he didn't bother announcing it either. If people thought he was a girl then he was more than happy to let them think as much. He immersed himself into the day to day work of candidate life with a pleasure rarely seen and began calling himself Randi.

He didn't really give much thought to standing to the eggs. With his fondness for dressing up in dresses and behaving like a creche mother any proper dragon would take one look at him and flee as fast as it could he figured. So what was the harm in standing then? They had searched him so he should stand to the eggs at least once. Even if he was a bit different he wanted to do his duty by the weyr. Then he could slip happily into life as a weyr drudge and no one would be any wiser and he could live his life the way he wanted to. Well, that was the plan at any rate.

Appearance: Randi is short and slender with a fairly angular face and blue eyes. His hair is black and she wears it long. He appears rather frail but is stronger than he looks.

Personality: Randi is a girly boy. He likes the color pink, small children, and soft fuzzy animals. He doesn't like getting dirty and will clean himself fastidiously if he is required to do something that will get him dirty. He likes being around others and tends to talk a lot especially if nervous or very excited. His babbling has been known to get him in trouble especially when he talks while he should be listening. He doesn't babble intentionally to get on other people's nerves, he just can't really help himself. Because of this Randi is not a good person to tell a secret too since he gets so excited things tend to just slip out. While he isn't lazy by any means he can get distracted if his friends are about and he gets talking.

He has a firm belief in himself. He doesn't feel he was cursed to be the way he is. He simply is and if others can't accept that, then that is there problem. Because he has lived with a great deal of disapproval from his family and society at large he can be rather paranoid about how he is viewed and gets quite defensive about how he has chosen to live his life. He holds a lot of resentment and anger deep inside that he doesn't often let out. But because he has pushed it so far down into the depths of his heart sometimes it leaks out at the worst possible moment. Normally he is quite friendly and open. But if he perseveres that a person is discriminating against him because of his life choices he will turn the cold shoulder to them weather it is justified or not.

Despite these shortcomings Randi is a deeply caring person. He is very loyal to his friends and passionate about life.

other: (If you don't want the OOC responsibility of metal dragons, put "no gold/bronze" here. Anything else you think we should know about this character.) Note: He is not actively looking to impress. His searching should come as a surprise to him. icon_xd.gif

I have to second what Fey said about hiding his sex. Firstly, dragons can tell gender, or I assume so, because it's important to how many dragons choose their rider, and integral to bronzes and golds. Even if they couldn't tell, I believe bathing facilities for candidates are commounal, so there would be no way to hide his gender once he was there that I can see I'm afraid ^^"

As for where he should be, I'd say High Reaches for sure XP I think he would be really, really miserable at Telgar.

First I want to say if you all really thing he won't work, and that is the sense I am getting from the comments, I am ok with scraping the idea. Or perhaps making him into a very gay character instead. I just thought the idea of a transgender character would be interesting to explore.

But I do want to say that he isn't hiding his sex. The first draft I wrote up he was. And was afraid he'd be found out. But after talking it over with Infi we decided that you are right that the dragons and riders would know. So he is just being himself and experimenting with things now that he isn't being controlled quite so much. And I know they keep a tight reign on the candidates but it is possible I think for him make friends and manage to get a few pieces of old clothing and take to wearing it.

He isn't dressed as a girl when he is searched and he gathered the clothing together piece by piece after he is already at the wery. He's just dressing in woman's clothing not actually pretending anything really.
He just has a stronger female side to him and he is not afraid the embrace it. If someone who does not know he is male assumes he is female he won't correct them necessarily, but if he is ever asked outright he says male. So he isn't hiding his sex at all really.

I agree that the crafters would not be happy with being sent someone who was useless for their craft. But it wasn't as if he was actually accepted. His father was just at his wits end and didn't know what else to do with the boy so he grasping at straws. It was only in the planning stages when the search came. I am not sure what would have happened if the search hadn't come when it did, but sea craft comes to mind.

Finally I have to say, I understood when I first began writing this character that he would be persecuted for his choices. He would make the other candidates and weyrlings uncomfortable and probably be quite lonely at times. Especially in a society like Pern's that is quite old fashioned in some respects. But it wasn't something that had been done before so I thought it might be interesting to try. XD

Thank you for looking the character over for me though. I appreciate the help even if he isn't going to work out.

Hmm well I may have to modify the talking..let me think on it.

The other fault was paranoia mostly.

Example: A person of minority comes into a restaurant and sits down. The server comes over and is abrupt in the way they deal with the customer.

The customer because he or she is a part of a minority group and used to being persecuted believes that is what is happening regardless if that is actually what is going on or not. After all the server could just be having a really crappy day.

There for Randon will be prone to jump to conclusions and unfairly treat people unkindly by reacting to nonexistent mistreatment. Witch in itself is a form of prejudice and hipocarcy. It's sort of understandable given his situation, but it's wrong none the less.